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Respond to discriminatory action complaints

If a worker witnesses or experiences unsafe or unhealthy conditions at the workplace and reports it to someone at work or to WorkSafeBC, he or she is “raising a health or safety issue.” A worker doing so is legally exercising a right or carrying out a duty under the Workers Compensation Act. It is illegal for an employer or union to penalize workers for raising health or safety issues, and workers can submit a discriminatory action complaint if they feel this has occurred.

What do discriminatory actions include?

If a worker raises a health or safety issue at the workplace, and the employer or union responds with any one of the following, we consider it discriminatory action:

The worker is suspended or laid off, or the job is eliminated

The worker is demoted or an opportunity for promotion is taken away

The worker’s duties are transferred to someone else

The worker is sent to another work site

The worker’s wages are reduced or the working hours changed

The worker is coerced or intimidated in some way

The worker is disciplined, reprimanded or penalized in any way

Failure to pay wages

Workers can also submit a complaint for what’s known as a “failure to pay wages,” which applies to wages they should have been paid while carrying out duties related to the joint occupational health and safety committee. If workers are not paid for the following, they can file a failure to pay wages complaint:

Time off work for health and safety committee matters

Educational leave for health and safety committee members

Accompanying a WorkSafeBC prevention officer on a safety inspection

A layoff resulting from WorkSafeBC issuing a stop-work order

Remedies

In response to a discriminatory action or failure to pay wages complaint, we can order an employer or union to do one or more of the following:

Stop the discriminatory action

Reinstate the worker in his or her job

Repay any lost wages

Reinstate the worker’s status as a union member

Clear the worker’s employment record of all reprimands or disciplinary references

Reimburse the worker for any reasonable out-of-pocket expenses related to the discriminatory action

Write a letter confirming employment of the worker

Do whatever else is necessary to be in compliance with the Act

Limitations on remedies

We cannot remedy the following through a discriminatory action complaint:

Pain and suffering: We cannot award general damages for emotional trauma.

Workplace health and safety concerns: The remedies we order must be related to an worker’s personal losses, not the health and safety of the workplace. If a worker has concerns about health and safety violations, they need to report unsafe working conditions by calling our Prevention line.